Father of the 401(k) Wants to Start Over

The guy who is most responsible for the creation of the 401(k) market- Ted Benna- recently said that he is in favor of blowing up the whole system and starting over, because employees are now given too many choices.

I would blow up the system and restart with something totally different. Now this monster is out of control. We went to three options, them to six, then to seven, then to 15 – it is far beyond what most participants were able to deal with. And I am not convinced we have added value by getting more complicated.

We fundamentally disagree. We believe there are not enough options given to 401(k) participants, who are stuck with crappy and expensive offerings from back room dealings of the Plan Sponsor. This is why services like Brightscope and ours are so important. There needs to be more transparency, more choice, and greater access to third-parties, not less. Sorry Ted, you are wrong about this one.